1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compact vehicle including a pipe stem to inserted into a head pipe which is rotatably supported by the head pipe and located at the front end on a vehicle body frame. A front fork is provided for rotatably supporting a front wheel connected to a top bridge and a bottom bridge secured at the upper and lower ends of the pipe stem and projecting from the upper and lower ends of the aforementioned head pipe. A steering handle is mounted on the aforementioned top bridge. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an improved layout of an airbag apparatus to be mounted on a compact vehicle.
2. Description of Background Art
Hithertofore, for example, in a motorcycle as disclosed in JP-A-2001-219884, an airbag in the folded state is disposed between the steering handle and the wind-shielding member to be disposed ahead of the steering handle.
However, according to the related art described above, the airbag has to be inflated and deployed to wraparound the steering handle from the front to the rear. Thus, the configuration of the airbag is obliged to be complicated, and the arrangement of the members that may hinder inflation and deployment of the airbag in the vicinity of the steering handle must be avoided. Therefore, whereby the flexibility of parts for the arrangement around the steering handle is reduced.
In order to solve such a problem, it is conceivable to support the airbag by the top bridge or by the steering handle. However, it is difficult to secure a space for disposing an inflator for supplying gas into the airbag in the top bridge or in the steering handle. Although mounting the inflator on the vehicle body frame is conceivable, since the top bridge and the steering handle rotate with respect to the vehicle frame, the structure of connection between the airbag and the inflator is obliged to be complicated.
In addition, a motorcycle having an airbag apparatus mounted thereon is disclosed in JP-A-9-328053.
However, according to the related art described above, the airbag apparatus is disposed between a fuel tank and a seat located behind the fuel tank, and thus it is necessary to downsize the fuel tank in order to secure a space for installing the airbag apparatus. In the case of motorcycles such as scooters, which do not have a fuel tank in front of the seat, the airbag apparatus adapted to be disposed between the fuel tank and the seat cannot be applied as is as in the case of the related art. Thus, it cannot be said that it is superior in versatility.